I recently noticed some Christian songs that were encouraging listeners with the refrain “God is not against you,” and “God is for you.” I know that some famous preachers also seem to make this their regular mantra when they appear before their congregations. Whenever I hear such encouragement, however, I wonder how someone can make such a blanket statement to all people who might be listening.
I think of stories like the Exodus where God was clearly for the Israelites as God led them out of bondage, whereas God was against their Egyptian captors (Psalm 81:5).
Sometimes people have a fairy tale image of God. We can be prone to think of God as there for our well being, as existing to grant our wishes (at least sometimes), and as one who is always nice to us, whose prime goal is to make us comfortable in life, and who would never think of disciplining us.
The fact is, though, that God does discipline. And our sin does affect our relationship with God in this life. It is even possible that God can be against you.
- “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6).
- “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).
- “Now the hand of the Lord is against you” (Acts 13:11).
Even though God can be against people, there is still a sense that God is for everyone, if by this we mean that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). We can even say that God wants what is best for us.
At the same time though, sometimes God gives us “tough love” to help us straighten up. For example, Paul warned the Corinthians that if we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner we might be “judged . . . by the Lord” and “disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
I cannot tell everyone that God is not against them. I don’t know about you, but knowing this gives me strong impetus to repent from my sin and ensure that I stay in good relationship with God.
The good news is, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Praise the Lord!
Question: Can you think of any other ways that one can rightly say ‘God is for’ everyone? Leave a comment below by clicking here.
You might also be interested in my post, “Does Sin Separate Us from God?“
Andrew, thanks for your good thoughts. A well worded presentation.
Jim
James G. Richards
Executive Director
Pentecostal Financial Services Group Inc.
2450 Milltower Court
Mississauga, ON L5N 5Z6
Cell: 416-500-3616
jrichards@paoc.org
Tim Keller argues that the Egyptians didn’t make it through the red sea because they didn’t have the faith of the Israelites. Agree? Disagree?
Disagree. Not faith but rather that they were intent on harming, killing, or oppressing the Israelites.
It seems to me that the popular sentiment “God is for us” is in large part a reaction against those who seem obsessed with suggesting that God hates certain groups of people. It is a needed correction, but like all reactionary sentiments, I think it does go a bit too far as Andrew has suggested.
In one sense, God does indeed want what is best for each of us, which includes turning to Him for mercy. In another sense however, God is not about to circumvent His sense of justice due to His sense of mercy. These two are in tension and rightly so, which suggests to me that while God is for us in the sense of loving us and wanting to help us, He remains willingly bound to allow us to experience the consequence of our rebellion and mistakes. That too is in our best interest in the long run, if it causes us to question our behaviour.
So while prone to misinterpretation, the statement “God is for us” is probably generally accurate. The problem comes more from the vague nature of what being “for” someone means in today’s culture. Currently such language suggests blanket approval for any behaviour or opinion rather than an overall concern for someone’s true well-being and righteous living.
When the first time I read the scripture if God is for us who can be against us! I sat for a while and I spoke to God in prayer what does this mean because everybody’s against me and I would cry nights and days read over that verse and having no understanding I would say the scripture out loud until God show me what this means once I got knowledge of the Lord he showed me that I was trying to please people he told me I’m for you who can be against you it doesn’t matter about anybody else it matters about me but for somebody to be unsaved and a Christian to tell them those words is very hard to understand so be careful when you tell people the scripture
Thank you for your words . I got knowledge of them and God bless. Your story’s help me